Silver Bells
by monkaholic
Summary: Betty helps Daniel discover the merits of Christmas.


**Disclaimer:** Ugly Betty belongs to ABC, Silver Bells belongs to whoever wrote the song.

**Author's Note: **Written for the daniel_betty advent calendar over on LiveJournal. This is pure Christmas fluff, hopefully you enjoy it!

* * *

Christmas had never been a favorite holiday of his. There were too many memories of stale dinner parties and late night rantings of his mother after she'd had one (or five) too many glasses of wine. There was the disappointment of not getting the comic book that he had asked for because "The Meade men don't need frivolous reading material, Daniel. Why don't you try the newspaper." His father would always neglect to give him the comics section. And then of course there were the memories of Alex coaxing him into playing outside after opening the presents, only to become the target for flying snowballs that Alex and his neighborhood minions had conjured up. Daniel fell for it every year. After high school he usually spent Christmas hung-over and in the arms of a nameless model. This year he had been counting on going to France to see DJ, but that ended up backfiring when his grandparents told him that DJ was still adjusting and Daniel would just make him backtrack. As for Molly, it was clear that she loved Connor. So, he had spent the past week being a grinch, snapping at Betty and anyone else who had dared to speak to him. And now he sat at his desk, slumped over The Book that he had made every possible correction to three days ago, desperately trying to find _something_ that would give him an excuse to still be looking at it.

He didn't really hear her come in, but he caught the blinking lights of her Christmas tree sweater out of the corner of his eye. He sighed and looked up, knowing what was coming. "I'm not really in the mood to hear it right now, Betty."

Her eyebrows shot up to give the visage of innocence, and she asked, "How do you know what I was going to say?"

"Because I know you, Betty. You'll lecture me about how I shouldn't take out my frustrations on everyone else and then you'll go into a tirade about the merits of Christmas."

Betty scoffed unconvincingly and said, "I was NOT going to… okay, maybe I was."

Daniel gave her a satisfied smirk and looked back down at The Book.

"But now I'm not." She reached over and shut The Book, almost taking his nose with it, and Daniel looked up in outrage.

"Betty!"

She ignored him and grabbed his hand. "Come on, get your coat. I'm going to _show_ you the merits of Christmas instead."

"Betty…" he mumbled as she dragged him out of his chair.

"Get your coat! Now!"

Daniel suppressed a chuckle and did as he was told. He'd never admit it to her, but he kind of loved it whenever she got tough with him.

They ended up walking arm in arm down the sidewalks of Manhattan, the cool air numbing their cheeks. Betty's smile was infectious as she pointed out the sound of silver bells being rung by a man in a Santa suit on every street corner. And naturally, she spared a coin or two for every single one that they passed. Daniel hadn't had any change on him, and when Betty glared at him for this injustice, he put a 20 in one of the Santa's buckets. He was pretty sure that only Betty could inspire him to do that.

Betty chattered on excitedly as the snow crunched beneath their feet. She would give a smile to anyone who passed them, even angry shoppers who were only interested in almost knocking Daniel and Betty down to get to wherever they were going. The smell of a vendor selling fresh roasted chestnuts just added to Betty's glee. When they got to Rockefeller Center, they stopped in front of the tree.

"Isn't it the most beautiful thing you've ever seen?" Betty whispered, her eyes taking in every inch of it with awe.

Daniel looked at the tree, then back at Betty's face, and he shrugged. He could hear children laughing on the ice rink below.

"My mother used to bring me here every year. We'd just… sit and watch it for awhile." Daniel unconsciously pulled Betty closer to him as he saw her eyes glisten. "She always told me to make a wish. 'Something this beautiful is made of magic' she'd say. 'And if it's not, it doesn't hurt to try, right?'" Betty laughed softly and brushed a few tears away. Then she closed her eyes and turned her head to the sky. Daniel watched her for a moment and then did the same.

He wasn't quite sure what to wish for. A family Christmas? To meet the love of his life? To… to matter, for once? He felt a tug on his arm and opened his eyes to find Betty looking up at him.

"Come on. There's one other place I want to show you."

They ended up in the cancer wing of the Children's Hospital. It was unexpected, and Daniel would be lying if he said he wasn't scared. He loved children, definitely. But sick children were a whole different ballgame. He didn't know how to act around them, where to look, what to say. But Betty had convinced him that he'd be okay. They stood off to the side and watched Santa Claus hand out presents. A little boy, who couldn't have been more than five, was lying in bed, gingerly opening his present, and then he sat up in an instant and his pale blue eyes lit up with so much life at finding a Spiderman action figure. The smile on this boy's face sent a lump to Daniel's throat. The children were so fragile, so pale, their heads either bald or in the process of growing hair back, and yet they were still just kids. They still experienced an insane amount of joy at the simplest things in the same way that all children did.

The chatter in the room grew louder, and the laughter in their voices gave Daniel this feeling of complete peace. He spotted Betty playing Barbies with a little girl. He chuckled at the obvious Amanda impression she was doing with the doll, and he walked over and joined them. The little girl handed him a Ken doll without saying a word, and somehow he and Betty effortlessly sank into the role of husband and wife and co-owners of a veterinarian's clinic. Then Betty insisted on switching dolls with him and proceeded to tease him about being a better Barbie than she was. Daniel feigned offense, but he found it harder and harder to resist the smile that crept onto his face as he listened to Betty's laughter mingle with the little girl's. Betty's smile made him feel as if he'd been sitting in front of a cozy fire all night. Her hair was falling into her face and she was laughing so hard that she had put her hands up to her mouth to muffle the sound. Her eyes glowed with a playfulness that was aimed only at him. In that moment, Daniel realized that he had never seen anything more beautiful.

------------------------------------

The following Christmas, Daniel sat next to Betty on the couch in the Suarez house as she held a large box, trying to guess what Daniel had gotten her. His leg was bouncing up and down and his heart was beating like a cavalry of horses and he could feel the sweat breaking out on his forehead, but he was proud of himself for generally doing a good job of hiding his anxiousness. "Just open it," Daniel blurted after about her fifth guess and shake of the box.

Betty rolled her eyes and said, "Okay, jeez." He held his breath as she ripped the paper, and when she opened the box, he smiled as she pulled out another slightly smaller one. Then she did the same with that box. Betty sighed and said, "Oh, ha ha, Daniel. The old box-in-box trick. Very original."

Daniel just smiled proudly and fidgeted with his hands. It really was pretty genius.

Finally, Betty got to the velvet box. She picked it up and looked at it with confusion, then she let out a small gasp as she opened it and saw the small diamond, along with a note that simply said, "Marry me."

---------------------------------------

The following Christmas, Daniel sat next to Betty on the hospital bed, gazing down at their son. In that moment, Daniel realized that he had never seen anything more beautiful.


End file.
